


And as we ran from the cops, we would laugh so hard it would sting.

by Look_Alive_Sunshine



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - Highschool, Catholic!Frank, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mentions of homophobia, Mutual Pining, Oneshot, Religious Themes, Tattoos, Teenage Rebellion, like not a lot but ya know, sum illegal shit, this was meant to be short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:54:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24182446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Look_Alive_Sunshine/pseuds/Look_Alive_Sunshine
Summary: Frank first saw Gerard after church one day. He was leaning against a tree on the opposite side to the small graveyard, a cigarette twisted lazily between his fingers, eyes closed, a bored expression on his face.He had dark black hair that reached his shoulders, and wore a leather jacket and jeans that were so tight they could have quite possibly broken the laws of physics.The first thought that crossed his mind was how hot he looked in that moment.(Based on the prompt I got to write a Frerard based on the line “and as we ran from the cops, we would laugh so hard it would sting” from Disenchanted.)
Relationships: Frank Iero/Gerard Way, Mikey Way/Pete Wentz
Comments: 11
Kudos: 73





	And as we ran from the cops, we would laugh so hard it would sting.

Frank first saw Gerard after church one day. He was leaning against a tree on the opposite side to the small graveyard, a cigarette twisted lazily between his fingers, eyes closed, a bored expression on his face. 

He had dark black hair that reached his shoulders, and wore a leather jacket and jeans that were so tight they could have quite possibly broken the laws of physics. 

The first thought that crossed his mind was how hot he looked in that moment. And he knew that if his parents ever found out he felt that way they would most likely kick him out of the house until he ‘came to his senses’ or whatever.

He never much liked church though. When he was younger, he respected it, because it was all he’d ever known. But as he reached his teenage years he started to feel more and more unhappy in the church's atmosphere. He had realised he was gay around the age of 15 and had started to stray further and further away from what the church told him to do, and now at the age of 17 he would be quite happy to never step foot in that place again - in fact, the only reason he even went anymore was because his parents made him go every Sunday.  
He couldn’t wait until he could finally go off to college, finally live a life of his own without his parents constantly reminding him not to ‘stray from the path of god’.

It was early October, and Frank had started to count down the days until he finally turned 18. He knew that as soon as he hit that age he was going straight to the tattoo parlour down the road and getting a tattoo. He knew very well how much it would piss off his parents, but had ultimately decided that that was part of the fun.

And so when he first saw Gerard he couldn’t help but be mesmerised by the laid back way he held himself; almost as if he didn’t really care for much. He was slouched effortlessly against the trunk of a dark brown tree, sunlight dancing off the red, yellow and brown leaves that had fallen to the ground, which lit his face up beautifully.

He was almost hypnotic to look at, and just as Frank was thinking about doing some very non catholic things to him, he was broken out of his thoughts by his father's booming voice telling him to ‘stop just standing there’ and to ‘get a move on’. 

He sighed before glancing over at the boy one last time; only to find him staring right back.. He smiled at Frank and gave a little wave, which caused Frank to flush a bright red colour and rush after his father.

**. . . . .**

The second time he saw Gerard was when he was sneaking off into the trees behind the school, trying to have a smoke.

They did not tolerate any smoking on their grounds, and even though these trees were technically a part of the school grounds, he knew that no one would come in here anyway. No one ever came in here. There were rumours that it was haunted but Frank didn’t really care; in fact, he thought it would be pretty rad to have a ghost friend.

“Hey,” a voice had said, causing Frank to nearly jump out of his skin. Thoughts of ghosts and poltergeists and all kinds of horror tropes flitted through his head, before he realised it was simply the same boy from church the other day. 

“Oh, hey! I didn’t think anyone ever came in here,” he said. Now that he thought about it he couldn’t remember seeing this boy in school before. “Do you even go here?” Frank asked.

The boy gave a small chuckle before saying “Nope,” while popping the P. 

“So what are you doing?”

“I was bored and saw you sneaking in here, and so thought I’d follow.” The boy smirked.

“Why?”

“I was bored,” he repeated. “Oh, and I saw you staring at me in church the other day, and thought the least I could do was introduce myself to you.”

Frank flushed bright red at this. He hadn’t really expected to be noticed staring. That was not part of the plan.

“So, introductions. I'm Gerard Way, nineteen years old. I like to do art and one day want to publish my own. You?”

“I..I'm Frank… Frank Iero… 17, nearly 18. My birthday is on October 31st, which is cool… Errr... I play Guitar and want to be in a band, but my parents would never let me… heh,” he finished, putting his hand sheepishly behind his back.

“Your Birthday is on Halloween! Dude, that's so cool!” Gerard exclaimed, his eyes lighting up.

“Yeah… My parents aren’t as happy about it, they think it’s got something to do with the devil. Man I don’t even know.”

“And I suppose you don't share the same views?”

“Hell no. I only go to church because my parents force me to. I can’t wait to go off to college or something and have a bit of freedom.”

“That explains why you looked so glum in church then.” 

“Yeah, guess so. What were you doing there anyway? You don’t look like the kind of person that would go to church - no offence if you actually do though.”

“Nah it's fine. As I said before, I was bored. And plus, a hobby of mine is finding cute catholic boys to corrupt,” he said, winking.

Frank flushed red, again, and decided to ignore that comment. “You get bored a lot don’t you?”

“Yup. There’s not much to do around here.”

“I know what you mean.”

“There’s a gig in town tonight, you wanna go? My brother is forcing me to come and you look like the kind of person who’d enjoy it.”

For a moment Frank couldn’t believe this boy- Gerard, wanted to actually hang out with him, and he knew it would be stupid to turn an offer like this down, but he knew his parents would never let him. “Gerard I… I’d love too, I really would...”

“But…?” Gerard asked.

“My parents would never let me. As I think I’ve mentioned before, they’re against anything like that.”

He waited for Gerard to sigh and walk off. He was stupid for believing he even had a chance with someone like him. It was better he found out how much of a loser Frank really was now rather than later.

“They don’t have to know about it,” Gerard said.

“What?”

“Sneak out.”

“I… what?!”

“It doesn’t start until late anyway,” he said, as though it was nothing.

“My parents will kill me if they find out!”

“ _If_ they find out. We’ll just have to make sure they don’t,” he said, smirking. “Come on Frank, live a little. I know you want to.”

“How will I even know where to go?”

“If you tell me your address I'll wait for you.”

“Fine.”

“So you’ll sneak out?”

“Sure. Whatever.” Frank tried to pass it off as nonchalantly as possible, when inside he was just a growing bundle of nerves.

“Great! I’ll meet you at 11 then!”

“Ok,” he said, hearing the bell signalling the end of lunch.

“Before you go, I’ll need your address, and your number, ya know, just because…” Gerard said, and Frank could have sworn he looked slightly nervous.

“Sure, here.” He grabbed a marker out of his bag and scribbled his number on Gerard’s arm. “I’ll message you my address later, ok?”

“Ok, well, see you then!” He smiled

“See you,” Frank answered, before walking off to his next class.

**. . . . .**

That night Frank felt kind of nauseous as he sat down for dinner with his parents. His mother had cooked a really nice veggie lasagne, and his father was reading the daily newspaper and complaining about something he’d read.

Frank barely touched his dinner. The sick feeling in his stomach made it hard for him to swallow the food on his plate. His mother had asked him one or twice if he was feeling alright. He’d just told her he felt very tired.

Somehow she believed his lie and sent him off to bed, saying something about how important it was that he got some good sleep. He felt the briefest flash of guilt; knowing full well that he wasn’t going to get a lot of sleep, but bid his mother goodnight while feigning a yawn anyway.

He glanced at the small clock by his bedside table and saw that the time was only 21:34. He still had an hour or two to kill. He couldn’t play his guitar because that would prove that he’d been lying about being tired. Instead, he picked up a comic that lay by the side of his bed and continued reading it. 

He’d only read a few pages when his phone buzzed to alert him that he’d gotten a new message.

_Hey! It’s Gerard, the guy from the church and school. Not to sound like a creepy stalker but you promised me your address :P_

_**Wow imagine if I gave u the wrong number and some random person got a message asking for their address…** _

_Shut up. I didn’t know how else to word it. :/_

Frank quickly sent off a text containing his address.

_What would you do if this wasn’t actually Gerard. What if it’s some creepy old dude who’s now going to break into your house when you’re sleeping and murder you?_

_**Then I’d ask him to make it quick.** _

_Fair enough._

They talked for a while before Gerard sent him a message saying he was going to start making his way to Franks now, and that Frank better be ready.

Frank realised that it was now nearly 11, and had a mini panic because he hadn’t a clue what he was going to be wearing. He walked quietly over to his wardrobe and picked out some jeans, an old band tee and one of his jackets. 

He got changed as quietly as possible. His parents were usually in bed at this time, and he didn’t want to make them suspicious. Usually Frank found the fact that they were in bed at this time annoying, because he loved playing guitar well into the night, but today Frank counted it as a blessing. 

Once changed he pushed a pillow under his covers; just in case his mother decided to check in on him at some point during the night.

 _I’m waiting…_ Read a text on his phone.

He shook his head before shoving his phone into the pocket on his jacket and climbing out his window and onto the tree. Frank usually hated the tree because it blocked his view of anything else, so he’d never know if there was a serial killer or criminal trying to break into his house; but tonight it seemed like things were working in his favour.

He managed to make it down the tree without much hassle - par a few scrapes here and there from the branches.

He saw Gerard leaning against a fence, cigarette placed lazily in his hand. As soon as he saw Frank his eyes widened and he grinned and waved at him.

“Frankie! You made it! I'm so proud of you!” he said, sarcastically.

“Whatever,”

“Come on Frankie, cheer up!”

Frank couldn’t help but let out a small smile at this, before following Gerard down the road.

They got to the gig without much hassle, and met up with Gerards brother, who’s name was Mikey. Mikey was a pretty chill guy, although he seemed to only have one permanent expression of boredom. Him and Gerard also seemed to have some sort of secret eyebrow language as well, but he didn’t question it. 

The band itself wasn’t too bad, and Frank found himself wandering towards the mosh pit once or twice. Gerard stayed well away. Frank didn’t really blame him. He managed to escape with nothing but a few bruised ribs and a twisted ankle.

He found Gerard sitting at a bar, sipping on some alcohol. 

“How’d you get that?” Frank shouted over the noise. Last time he checked, Gerard had been 19.

He leant down and pulled a fake ID out of his trouser pocket, winking.

“Want something?” He asked.

“Sure…” Frank said hesitantly. He’d only really drank in small amounts with his parents on special occasions like New Year.

Gerard grinned and signalled the bartender over. Frank couldn’t hear what he’d asked for, but before long Gerard was sliding some form of alcoholic beverage over to him.

Frank took a sip and instantly coughed. The liquid burnt his throat and caused him to cough and splutter. 

Gerard simply smirked at him, but didn’t say anything about it; to which Frank was grateful. 

By the time the band had finished playing Frank was more than a little drunk.

“C’mon Frankie, let's get you home.”

“My parents are gon be mad Gee,” Frank said, sadly.

“You’ll be fine. I’ll help you get back.”

“Why do ya even like me?”

“Because... You aren’t boring.”

“M’kay.. I'm kinda tired though.”

“That’s why we’re going home.”

“I don't wanna walk though.” He said. Stopping suddenly and sitting down.

“God’s sake Frankie you didn’t even have that much to drink.” Gerard mumbled.

“Carry me??!” Frank said, trying his hardest to give Gerard his best puppy eyes.

Gerard smiled. “You’re lucky you’re adorable.” He said, before gesturing to Frank to get on his back.

“Yay! Thanks Gee!” He said, placing his head on Gerards shoulder. Gerard felt his face flush a light pink colour but decided to ignore it. 

They got to Frank's house without too much trouble, and also managed to make it inside and upstairs with Franks half asleep directions.

“I’m going to go now Frank, will you be ok?”

“Yeah.” Frank said sleepily. 

“Okay. Goodnight Frankie.”

“Night.”

And then not moments after Gerard left the room he heard some soft snoring coming from behind the door.

**. . . . .**

The third time Frank saw Gerard he was sitting at a local park, contemplating life and mulling over the conversation his father had had this morning. He knew he probably shouldn't be, but he was all the same.

The third time he saw Gerard he nearly didn’t recognise him. Instead of the Jet black hair he’d learnt to associate with him over the few days he’d known him, he now had bright red colourful hair.

Franks crush (that totally wasn’t a crush or anything) grew 10x bigger, if that was even possible.

“Hey Frankie!” He said with a smile.

“H..Hey Gee,” 

“Whats da matta? It looks like you’ve seen a ghost,” he giggled.

“You.. Your hair..?” He said, making some weird gesture with his hand that was meant to point to his hair, but just ended up looking strange due to how flustered he was.

“Hmm..? Oh Right! My hair! Do you like it?” He asked, swishing it about a little before giggling.

“Yeah! I love it! You look- It looks amazing!” He finished.

“Thank you Frankie!” He said, looking genuinely happy that Frank had complimented him. “Are you feeling better now after the other night?”

“Yeah.. I'm fine now. No thanks to you and your incessant teasing.”

“Yeah but, you didn’t even have that much to drink.”

“Shut up.”

“Never.” He grinned. “Anyway.. So I was thinking, you look like you really want to rebel against your parents - like, more than usual, is everything ok?”

“It’s fine it's just…” He paused for a second, unsure if he was willing to share this information, but then decided; fuck it. If he hated Frank after this then that was his problem, not Franks. He sighed. “My dad just started having this speech this morning about how all gays go to hell, and about how they are a waste of space because they don't contribute anything to society.” He took a breath, before glancing up at Gerard, expecting him to make some sort of harsh remark. When he was met with nothing but pitiful eyes he continued.

“I argued back with him, claiming that they don't really have a choice; but he just claimed that they did, and that it’s all their fault. He said some things that made me doubt myself and I hate it. I really do. I know I shouldn’t let him get to me but he just went on and on about how selfish they were, about how they all deserved to die… It just really hurts, ya know? Like I know he doesn’t mean to hurt me in particular, because he doesn’t know, but I’m just afraid of what he’d do if he ever found out…” He trailed off. He was certain Gerard was going to say something, make a snide comment about him or something, and what he didn't expect was a pair of arms wrapping around him and pulling him closer.

“It’s ok Frankie. I’ll look after you.” He whispered, running his hands soothingly through Frank's hair.

“Thanks Gee.”

They just stayed like that for a while, before Gerard finally broke the silence.

“I have an idea that will really piss them off…” He started.

Frank pulled away from the hug to look up at his face. “What is it…?”

“So like… We could totally dye your hair… only if you want too though…”

“SERIOUSLY???!”

“Yeah of course! My mom’s a hairdresser, so she could come up with some really wicked styles for you,” He said.

“Yes yes yes yes, but like, only if she doesn’t mind…” He trailed off.

“Of course she wouldn’t mind!” He paused. “Come on!” He said, grabbing Franks hand and pulling him along.

“Wait… Right now?” He said, internally freaking out about the fact that they were literally _Holding hands._

“When else would it be?”

“Fair enough,” he replied, the teenage girl inside of him still squealing about the whole hand holding thing.

“Well, come on. Hurry up!!” He exclaimed, tugging on Franks hand in an effort to speed him up.

They made it back to Gerards house reasonably quickly, before Gerard pushed open the door and yelled for his mom.

“Kitchen!” She yelled back at him.

Gerard dragged him past a staircase and an assortment of other rooms before they managed to actually get to the kitchen.

“Hey ma! This is Frank, he’d my friend,” He grinned.

“Ok…” she said, glancing briefly down at their (still) interlocked hands.

Frank blushed, but Gerard seemed not to notice, and dove into this whole speech about how they needed to dye Frank's hair.

“-and like it's so not fair on him! It's not his fault! I, of all people, should know this, and I thought you’d understand too!” He finished, slightly out of breath.

She sighed, seemingly used to Gerards rants and speeches. “Go grab a chair then, and get your brother to bring the dye and stuff down.” She paused. “Oh and you might want to let go of Frank’s hand.” She smirked.

Gerard flushed as red as his hair before dropping Franks hand and dragging a chair over to where his mother and Frank were.

“I'll go grab Mikey then.” He said, before rushing out of the room.

“Take a seat Frank.” She said, gesturing to the chair.

“Thanks for this Mrs Way.”

“Please, call me Donna. Mrs Way makes me sound old.” She chuckled.

“So what do you want to do with your hair?”

“I don’t mind. You can decide; as long as it looks cool in the end,” he said.

Just then Gerard walked back in, looking a little sick.

Donna took one look at him before walking out the room. 

“MICHAEL JAMES WAY. I SWEAR TO GOD IF I COME UP THERE TO FIND PETE WENTZ AGAIN I WILL CASTRATE YOU BOTH. GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE NOW AND BRING THE HAIR DYE KIT.” she finished.

A squawk could be heard followed by a series of bumps coming from upstairs as Donna came back into the room.

“Anyway, as I was saying, I have a really cool idea for your hair, as long as you don’t mind me shaving some of it?”

“Not at all.” Frank said, still slightly scared of her after what she’d yelled up the stairs.

Just then a slightly frazzled Mikey walked in clutching a bag of hair equipment, eyes widening almost comically at the sight of Frank.

Just then another boy walked in wearing eyeliner, looking slightly less frazzled then Mikey.

“Hello Mrs Way how are you?-” He stopped, looking down at Frank.

“Who’s this?” He asked.

“Frank. My friend.” Gerard supplied, not meeting his brothers or this boy's eyes.

“Well Frank It’s nice to meet you! I'm Pete Wentz, boyfriend of Mikey Way,” he grinned, holding out a hand.

“I would not shake his hand if I were you. You do not want to know where it's been.” Gerard mumbled.

“Well it was nice meeting you Frank! Me and Mikey are gonna go erm.. We’re gonna go.. That way.” He said, gesturing to the door.

“Bye.” Mikey mumbled, turning and fleeing, wanting to get away from his mother's scrutinizing gaze.

Donna simply just sighed and rolled her eyes fondly at the two.

“I need bleach. I'm never going to get that sight out of my eyes ever again.” Gerard said.

“Shhh, it’s ok Gee, just focus on me and the fact we’re dying my hair ok?”

“M’kay” He said, lifting his gaze and smiling once he saw Frank.

The three of them talked while Donna cut and dyed Frank's hair. He wasn’t too sure what was happening with his hair, because Donna decided that it would be a surprise. After they had rinsed the dye out and dried it, Gerard was smiling like an idiot.

“You look so cool!” Quick come here, you need to see what it looks like!” He said, grabbing Franks hand for the second time that day and dragging him over to the mirror.

Donna had shaved and bleached the sides a bright white colour, while keeping the middle black and leaving it long enough to act as a sort of fringe. 

“I look like a badass skunk!” He exclaimed.

“Do you like it?”

“I fucking love it!”

“I'm glad you do” came Donna's amused voice. “Do you want to stay for dinner?”

“I should probably mention that I’m a vegetarian.” Frank said.

“That’s alright, I can make you something without meat if you want?”

“I don’t want to be a pain…”

“Nonsense. Go hang out with Gerard for a bit, I’ll let you know when it’s ready.” She smiled.

“Come on Frank, My room’s in the basement.”

The two of them just hung out and discussed comic books and music until Donna called them up for dinner. The food was gorgeous, and Frank ate until it physically hurt him to eat anymore. 

Eventually he had to bid the way family goodbye and make the dreaded journey home.

**. . . . .**

Sure enough as soon as his dad saw his hair he started shouting and ranting about teenage rebellion.

His mom simply shook her head and told him if he ever did anything like that again he’d be grounded.

Frank saw this as a win.

**. . . . .**

Frank and Gerards friendship only grew over the next few weeks, and as their friendship grew, so did Franks huge fucking crush.

At first he had tried to talk himself out of it, but after that didn’t work he simply found himself pining hopelessly over his best friend; not wanting to do anything about it in case it would ruin their friendship.

Gerard continued to bring him out to gigs late at night, and eventually Frank learnt how much alcohol he could tolerate without getting completely drunk.

He still attended church on Sundays - much to his reluctance, but Gerard usually waited for him after, and the two of them would go hang out and smoke under some trees. His parents didn’t mind. Somehow Gerard had managed to trick the two of them into believing he was just the kind of influence Frank needed right now.

Frank had absolutely no idea how he’d done it.

**. . . . .**

The morning of his birthday Frank was awoken to his phone buzzing repeatedly beneath his pillow.

_HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRANKIE!!_

_Happy Halloween as well!_

_wake up_

_I got your present_

_FRanKiEeeeeEEeee_

_**Thanks! You really didn’t have to get me anything tho..** _

_Yay! You’re awake. And yes I did. Can I come over?_

_**Sure…** _

_Ok, see you soon!_

Frank stared down at his phone, wondering what on earth had just happened, before getting changed and heading downstairs.

“Happy Birthday Frank!” His mother and father said in unison.

“I made you pancakes!” His mother grinned, leading him over to the breakfast table. 

He ate the pancakes and opened his presents, which consisted of more comics and a new guitar strap, along with quite a fair amount of money from other relatives that weren’t sure what else to actually get him. 

He was in the middle of thanking his parents for his gifts when a knock could be heard at the door. 

He walked over to answer it and was instantly greeted by an over enthusiastic Gerard. “Happy Birthday Frankie!!” He said, wrapping him in a tight hug.

“Thanks Gee,” He said, smiling.

“Good Morning, Mr and Mrs Iero!” He said, politely. 

“Good Morning Gerard,” His mom said fondly.

“I was wondering If I could take your son with me to celebrate his birthday?” He asked.

“Of course you can!”

“Can he also stay the night?” 

“Only If that's alright with your mother.” She said. 

“She said it’s fine as long as you said it was alright.”

Frank knew this was a lie. Donna wouldn’t have cared if his mom had said yes or no.

“Go on then Frank, go and grab your stuff. Gerard - you can go with him if you like.”

“Thank you Mrs. Iero,” said Gerard.

“Please dear, call me Linda.”

“Thank you Linda,” he smiled kindly at her.

“Come on Frankie, let’s go grab your stuff,” Gerard said, grabbing Franks hand and pulling him along. His father saw their hands clasped together and shot a disapproving glare at the two, but thankfully didn’t make a comment.

Once they were in Frank's room the two of them started to shove random items of clothing into one of Frank's rucksacks.

“Happy Birthday… again…” Gerard said, smiling sheepishly. 

“Thanks… again.” He giggled. 

“I’ve got your gift… It might not make sense until I explain it? And like, it’s totally cool if you don’t want to go ahead with it, because you can just use it for other things?”

“What is it?”

“Here,” He said, pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket and handing it to Frank.

On the paper there was a drawing - one that Gerard had drawn himself. It was a drawing of a pumpkin; a pretty damn cool one at that.

“You drew this?” He asked.

“Yeah…”

“Thank you!!”

“So my idea, well…” He paused. 

“Go on…” Frank prompted.

“So like, I know you’ve been talking about how much you wanted to get a tattoo right? And so I was thinking - and it’s completely fine if you don’t want to, but I was thinking that maybe we could go get you a tattoo? I wasn’t sure if you had any ideas already - but I thought that pumpkin might suit you, seeing as your birthday is on halloween and all…” He trailed off.

“Wait are you being serious?!?”

“Yeah, and it’s totally cool if you don't want to, it was just an idea…”

“Yes! Yes! And I can use my birthday money as well! I’ve wanted this for so long!” He beamed, pulling Gerard in for a tight hug. “And your design is so cool! I love it! Thank you so much Gee!!”

“I'm glad you like it,” Gerard said, smiling.

Frank pulled away from the hug. “Come on Gee! We gotta go now!!”

Gerard simply chuckled at the enthusiasm of the smaller boy.

“OK, ok hang on,” he laughed. “We still have to get your stuff together.”

“Well let’s do it faster then!” He smiled.

The two of them rushed around the room putting the final few things in the bag, and Frank also made sure to grab his birthday money.

“We're done?” Gerard asked.

“Yep!” Frank said, holding his bag up and grinning. “C’mon Gee! Lets go!” He exclaimed while already running out of the room.

Gerard sighed, but it was a fond sigh, before following the overly energetic boy down the stairs.

“Bye mama! bye dad!” He said, rushing over to give them a hug, before bounding back over to Gerard.

“Be back tomorrow yes?” His mother said. “And make sure you behave for Mrs Way ok?”

“Will do ma, see you tomorrow!”

The two boys walked out of the house and down the road. “Do you want to drop your stuff off at mine first?” Gerard asked him.

“Yep! Please? I just don’t fancy carrying around a heavy bag the whole time…”

“Come on then Frankie,” He smiled.

They got to Gerards house and gave a quick hello to Donna before dumping Franks bag down in the basement and walking back out the house.

“Are you going to stay with me?” Frank asks.

“I’ll try.”

“What do you mean?”

“I'm really scared of needles… Like the sight of them makes me feel sick, but I can stay with you if you really want me too…”

“No! No I don’t want to force you to stay if it’ll make you feel sick or scared, you can just wait around - go to the comic store down the road if you want and then I’ll call you when I’m done ok?”

“Frank it’s fine, I want to stay. I’m not sure how long I’ll manage to do it for but I’ll try ok?”

“If you’re sure - but just know that I won't hold it against you if you have to leave ok?”

“Ok…” Gerard trailed off.

It didn’t take long for them to reach the tattoo parlour, and even as soon as they stepped in to the sound of buzzing needles Gerard started to look a bit pale.

They stood; waiting for a little while until someone with poofy hair that went by the name of Ray came up to them and started discussing things with Frank - placements, the design (to which Frank showed him the picture Gerard had drawn) etc, and before long he was laying on the table getting the outline of the design done. 

Gerard tried to stay, but it didn’t take long until he had to mutter an apology to Frank and walk out the shop. Frank didn’t mind all that much - he was just happy that Gerard had tried.

Gerard spent the majority of his time down at the comic store, just browsing the latest additions of some of his favourites. He also found himself buying a few and making his way down to the local coffee shop to grab some coffee to read them with.

He wasn’t too sure how much time had actually passed, but it must have been a good few hours because it was well past midday when Frank finally told him he was done.

Frank came bounding out the parlour with a huge grin on his face, saying something about bandages and keeping it clean and stuff.

“It was the best birthday present ever! Thank you so much Gee!!” He said, leaping onto him and throwing his arms around his body and hanging on as if for dear life. 

“You don’t have to thank me, it was no problem; really.”

“But still… Thank you,” Frank said, throwing a smile so full of emotion that Gerard wasn’t quite sure what to say.

“Ya know Gee - I’ve been thinking…” He paused for a second. “So you’re good at art right? And like graffiti and shit is art? So like… I’ve always wanted to try graffiti something; even if it is against the law - but I mean, you only get one life right? So why don’t we go graffiti something? I mean, only if that's ok with you…”

It was Gerard’s turn to flash Frank a great big beaming smile this time. “Let's do it!” He grinned.

“What, right now?” Frank asked, shocked.

“No, later tonight, when it’s darker - less chance of being spotted ya know?”

“Yeah…” Frank said, trying to sound casual when in fact he was over the moon. 

“Ok so we’ll go back and have food and stuff, and then later on tonight we’ll sneak out - deal?”

“Deal. I take it you’ve done this before?”

“Yup!” He grinned. “But don’t tell anyone though…”

“I won’t, don’t worry,” He smiled.

Donna greeted them at the door and told them that they would be ordering pizza for their dinner. After giving her their orders the two of them curled up on the couch together, and watched some crappy TV. Soon enough Donna came in, pizzas in hand, giving the two boys a suspicious glance at their position on the sofa, but making no comment.

Once the pizza was finished Gerard pulled Frank down into his dimly lit basement also known as his bedroom.

They discussed things from what they were going to graffiti to what their favourite foods were. Before long Donna was yelling down the stairs about going to bed.

They waited until Donna had well and truly gone upstairs, before Gerard pulled out a box with cans of spray paints and a few masks.

“Here, take one of these - the fumes can be toxic so it's important you wear a mask.”

They grabbed their stuff and walked out onto the streets that were lit by moonlight and a few broken street lamps.

They walked until they found a spot which was deemed good enough to paint on, and set to work. Gerard started by showing Frank how to create the outlines, and told him which parts to fill in and stuff.

It was all going well, and they had just finished painting some sort of weird zombie-vampire hybrid when they heard a shout from down the road.

One glance told them it was the cops, and Gerard whispered a frantic “run” into Franks ear. The two of them grabbed the cans and took off running down the street, trying their hardest to stay in the shadows. 

They found an old shed that appeared abandoned. Gerard spotted it first and quickly pulled Frank into it as soon as they rounded the corner.

They sat, squatting in the darkness and looking out through a hole in the wall waiting for the police to either find them or give up. 

Frank wasn’t sure if it was the adrenaline, or the pure absurdity of the situation, but he let out a small giggle, that soon turned into slightly hysterical laughter.

“What's so funny?” Gerard asked, seeming genuinely curious.

“It's just…” He laughed again. “A month ago I never would have dreamed of doing something like this - I went to church for fucks sake,” He said, more laughter raking it’s way through his body. “And then I met you and all that went out the bloody window.” He wasn’t sure what was so funny about this, but he was laughing so hard tears were spilling out of his eyes.

And then Gerard joined in, and the two of them were just laying on the floor of this old rotting shed, laughing so hard their sides hurt.

After calming down a bit Frank said “I'm so sorry, I don't know what was so funny about that, I guess it was just the adrenaline…” he trailed off, looking up into Gerards eyes.

He wasn’t sure why or how it happened, it could have been anything from the adrenaline, or the month or so of Frank just wanting to do this, or just the plain adorable expression on Gerards face; but one moment he was sitting on the floor, hands covering his sides, the next his lips were pressed against Gerards, his hand running through his hair.

It took a moment - possibly out of shock, for Gerard to realise what was happening and start kissing back. The moment he did a rush of joy ran through Frank's body. It was finally happening. After a month of hopelessly pining after Gerard it was _finally happening._

He smiled into the kiss before pulling away. “Wow.. I.. I’m sorry, I’m not sure where that came from…” He trailed off.

“Don’t apologise Frankie, I’ve wanted to do that since the first time I saw you staring at me from across the churchyard.

“Why didn’t you?” Frank asked, bewildered. 

“Same reason you probably didn’t. The more I got to know you the more I realised what an awesome person you were, and I didn’t want to screw up our friendship with one stupid mistake.” He finished.

“I know what you mean…” He said, before smiling up at him. “Can I kiss you again?”

“Yes, but not here. It’s not really that comfortable sitting in this shed,” he paused, “Plus - I could have sworn I saw a spider running across that wall…”

At the mention of a spider Frank jumped up and out the shed. “I’m sure the cops have gone by now; we should head back to yours?”

“Yeah, come on then.” Gerard said, before grabbing Franks hand and entwining their fingers - this time on purpose.

And as they walked back through the dimly lit streets, hand in hand, bag of spray paints in tow, Frank couldn’t help but think about what a great birthday it had been.

**Author's Note:**

> So like this was meant to be short... oops? Anyway feel free to leave a comment, I really enjoy getting comments haha xD.


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